around the globe. we'll let you know what's happening up at the u.n. president obama and mitt romney both in the key state of virginia yesterday. you can all relax because everything, once again is all right with the world. those good regular union refs are back on the job. they came out last night for the ravens/browns game up in baltimore. no more lingerie league rejects out on the field. how about it. okay. that and a whole lot more here on today's "full court press." but first the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson in los angeles. good morning. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. mitt romney is all over the map again today with a rally in pennsylvania and then a fund-raiser in massachusetts. his campaign has another $5 million after last night's fund-raiser in d.c. where romney explained his five steps to take america back. the first of which is to produce more oil and natural gas. >> romney: we have the capacity if we can take advantage of it

and we build that pipeline from canada that we will do if i have to do it myself. >> other steps include promoting trade and putting students first and cutting government spending and making it easier for small business. romney made a push for veterans in virginia. all although not all of his claims are true. he tried attacking the president on the upcoming pentagon cuts saying those will take a toll on veteran services. unless congress reaches a deal, those cuts are scheduled to go into effect january 2013 but the white house already made it clear earlier this month that the veterans affairs budget is exempt from those mandatory cuts. the president is staying close to home today with three different campaign events in d.c. two at the capital hilton and one at a private home. he is sending joe biden off to florida for a little campaigning of his own. biden will take a new line of attack on republicans telling

seniors romney's economic plan would force them to pay more taxes on social security, also romney -- all so romney can have more tax cuts for the rich. back with more bill. stay with us. decide the election. current tv presents coverage of the presidential debate. with unrivaled analysis and commentary. >> you're going to hear that used as a major talking point. (vo) the only network with real-time reaction straight from the campaigns and from viewers like you. >>now that's politically direct. health matters to all of us. that's why lysol has started a mission for health. with new mom programs, lysol healthy habits initiatives in schools and disaster relief efforts.

when you use lysol at home, you'll know you're a part of something bigger. for healthy tips and more, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth.

an energizing fruit or relaxing mint flavor. new 5 rpm gum. stimulate your senses.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 29 days -- 39 days now and they're already voting in iowa! so what do you say? hello, everybody. on a great big friday! >> alleluia. >> bill: our favorite day. friday, september 28.

>> alleluia. >> bill: indeed our favorite day of the week around the "full court press." >> alleluia. >> bill: because we've worked hard all week. we've talked about a lot of issues debated a lot of issues and now we head into the weekend. first, we've got three hours of rollicking fun and good news here to cover on today's "full court press." that's why it's good to have you with us. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital washington, d.c. where we are right in the heart of the action on capitol hill, just down the street from the united states capitol building. not much going on here in washington these days. if the president comes back in town, it is usually only to spend the night and then he's back on the campaign trail as he was yesterday in virginia. what a quinky dink. romney and obama both in ohio on the same day and both in virginia this week on the same day. do you think they're coordinating their schedules? maybe they ought to ride on the same bus. make things a lot easier,

wouldn't it? we've got lots and lots to talk about here on the "full court press" today and lots you'll want to call about at 1-866-55-press. that is our toll free number. peter ogborn and dan henning as always. team press here. >> happy friday. >> with cyprian bowlding on the cameras. >> nice to see you. >> bill: everything good. "saturday night live" had a lot of fun last night. they did a thursday special. they do this sometimes during presidential elections. and they've got this new guy who plays president obama. >> i like him. >> bill: jay pharaoh. he was touting his jobs record. he said who says i didn't create jobs. i created a lot of jobs. he was touting his jobs record. one woman in the audience told him that she's got a very important job. >> you what about you? how about you ma'am i saw your hand go up.

what do you do? >> i work at the apple store. >> there you go. one of america's great companies still growing. >> oh, i don't work for the computer store. i sell actual apples. >> obama: okay. i have a shack by the highway. i sell mostly to immigrants and the occasional mule. [ laughter ] >> bill: gotta have a sense of humor. come on democrats, you have to be able to laugh. another guy has a big outdoor job, sometimes outdoors at any rate. >> what do you do, sir. >> i chase raccoons out of foreclosed homes. >> that's great because all of those homes had people in them a few years ago. >> probably a lot of perks right?

>> just the little things that he nails. it's really great. >> bill: which obama does. he's out there in front of the crowd. senator sherrod brown ahead ten points in ohio. bob cusack, the managing editor of "the hill" newspaper will be here in studio with us as a "friend of bill" a little bit later. and we'll also be talking to teddy kennedy jr. about how the obama campaign is going. and here's my question. what the hell is wrong with white males? >> wake up, white people. >> bill: but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> headlines making news on this friday. a standing ovation for the returning union nfl officials at the ravens/browns game last night. the crowd went wild when referee

gene and his seven-man crew took the field before the game in baltimore. refs were a bit surprised but smiled and tipped their hats to the crowd as a thank you. ravens player ray lewis even came over and gave a hug. >> lewis doesn't give hugs, by the way. it is a big deal. >> espn spoke with players and coaches after the game who all had nothing but high praise for the officiating crew. the ravens won the game 23-16. >> bill: right up the road here. right up the parkway huh? good for them. refs are back. everything is right with the world. >> tiger woods has apologizing to do after yelling fore on the golf course. a shot hit a spectator in the head during a practice round at the madonna country club. knocked the spectator out cold. woods repeatly apologized said of course it was his fault.

he signed his own golf club and gave it to the fan and made sure he got appropriate medical treatment. >> bill: of course it was his fault but that guy he's probably proud to be hit in the head -- >> cha-ching! >> bill: with thatter ant ball by -- with that errant ball by tiger woods. it is like jerry ford -- he whacked a couple of people in the head with golf balls. >> outgoing congressman barney frank took time to talk about his support for marijuana legalization yesterday. while he tells cnn he's not a regular pot smoker he did eat a pot brownie once and it made him sleepy. he called the ban on marijuana a great hypocrisy given that alcohol and cigarettes are legal. >> bill: i love barney frank. he's been a guest in studio. i think we'll miss him very much in the united states congress. i find it hard to believe his only encounter with pot has been one pot brownie his entire life?

>> yeah, i didn't inhale. >> bill: i'm just sayin'. i don't know why people aren't more up-front about their use of recreational drugs. i've always said -- i smoked a lot of pot and don't anymore. >> last night. [ laughter ] >> bill: i don't anymore but i would if somebody offered it to me. >> is that an invitation? i want all of our future guests to know, don't get rid of the weed. >> bill: let's get the normal people in. all right. good enough. thank you, dan. >> you got it. >> bill: yes indeed. seriously, you know, i am embarrassed, okay, today. i am embarrassed to be a white man, okay.

i want to apologize for my race and i want to apologize for my gender. how is that for a start? because everybody's getting it right this year except white men. and i can't freakin' figure it out. maybe you can help me. 1-866-55-press. when you look across the board the only group -- the only identifiable group that barack obama is not doing great with today, if simply not doing well with today are white men. why? why? what is it? if you look at women okay, ohio obama's up 25 points. 25 points among women. in pennsylvania, 21 points among women across the board. nationwide, he's up probably 15 or 19 points among all women all right. if you look at african-americans, the latest poll among blacks, maybe you understand why but not necessarily all blacks -- you

wouldn't think are going to vote for obama just because he's black but among blacks, 100%. romney gets zero. i was talking to a friend yesterday who is a good friend of the woman -- get this, how would you like this job. the woman who is the -- who is in charge of african-american outreach for the romney campaign. >> that's a lonely job! >> bill: she says she can't get -- she told him she can't get any attention at all from the romney campaign. they're not going to schedule any events or have any outreach because zero, okay. now, among latinos the latest poll that i showed among latinos even though mitt romney says yeah, we want that latino vote, it ain't happening. among latinos obama 67%. mitt romney 23%. among seniors and -- seniors get older, they tend to get you know i think brain addled so

they vote republican. even among seniors florida where most people are seniors medicare and social security. a 51% to 47%. president obama is leading among seniors. it is among white men that's the only group supporting mitt romney. again, i can't figure it out. president obama did -- among all men, particularly by the way white men among all men in 2008, i checked this morning he beat john mccain by just one point. 49 to 48. but among white men in 2008, he lost by 16 points to john mccain. among white males so far in 2012 romney leads -- you heard some of the leads among other groups but among white males romney over obama 60% to 34%.

a 26-point lead among white males. i don't get it. i guess the question is what's wrong with white males. other question is can white males alone save mitt romney? i don't think so. i would love your take on this. help us figure it out. 1-800-steph-12. look what is it about white men? is it they're afraid of losing their job? they're afraid of losing their homes? they're afraid of not getting ahead in the world? they're afraid they won't be able to take care of their families. they're afraid of a black man? what is it? is it racism? is it that they just can't stand the fact that there is a black man in the oval office and you know, they're a white guy and this is a white country and our forefathers were white and what's going on here? we're losing control? i mean is that -- is it ignorance? are these uneducated white men who don't just see that they're a hell of a lot better off today than they were four years ago.

that this country is a hell of a lot better off under the policies of barack obama than under the disastrous economic foreign policy, environmental educational you name it policies of george w. bush and dick cheney across the board? i mean is that it? is it they're totally out of it, stupid, don't know the issues? watch too much fox news? i mean i really cannot figure it out because by any measure, we talked about this before, by any measure, yeah, times are tough. yes, too many americans are out of work. yes, too many have had to take second jobs or new careers or they're not making as much or don't have as much authority and responsibility, not as good a job as they had the first time around. yeah, we know all of that. but overall americans are a hell of a lot better off than they were four years ago. white males are better off than they were four years ago. romney's policies, if anything, are going -- would set them back were he president because under him, there would be no middle

class. there would be the very poor and the very, very, very, very, very rich like him. so this whole -- it makes me angry and it makes me frustrated and it makes me embarrassed to be part of this ignorant dumb ass class of white men! 1-866-55-press. and you know what? it's a white man's world. let's face it. things are better off today for women and better off for people of color, no doubt about it. but man you know, all -- most of the advantages in this country still go to white men. let's face it. we'll talk about it when we come back here and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: on your radio on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv.

>>and now to my point. that is a whole bunch of bunk! the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy.

you disgust me. prove it. enough is enough. d-con baits are specially formulated to kill in one feeding. guaranteed. d-con. get out. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, it is 24 minutes after the hour. >> bill: 24 minutes after the hour. the "full court press" here on current tv this morning. coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station coming to you live on sirius x.m. this hour only. complain to them. don't complain to me. their stupid decision. coming to you live on current tv all three hours here on a friday morning. trying to figure out what's up with white males here. time for them to get their stuff together and join the rest of the universe. doing the right thing by supporting barack obama. regis is here in washington

d.c. regis, what do you say? >> caller: good morning, bill. i appreciate you taking my call. i really enjoy your show. >> bill: thank you for both. >> caller: i think it comes down to the fact that males when they face a problem always want to bond together with the quote-unquote leader and attack. and in this case, white males see romney as i'm going to follow this guy and i think -- having been a military member myself, when you get into a joint setting yeah, go, u.s. but then depending on the service you're in, you're in the air force and the leader happens to be a marine, well then you start taking on the marine corps but you're still supporting. that's the way males are. >> bill: why don't they see obama as a male leader? >> caller: but they see him as a black male leader. romney as the white male leader. if it was obama against a woman

they would probably line up with obama. >> bill: yeah. i guess that's as easy an explanation as any regis i guess. i think it is wrongheaded. it certainly doesn't go very deep in terms of an important decision as who's going to be the next president of the united states. all right, well joey's got the answer. he's from chicago. he'll know the answer. good morning. >> caller: i'll tell you exactly what it is. white males think they're the biggest, baddest toughest things around but inside, they're just afraid. and that's what it is. >> bill: what are they afraid of? >> caller: i don't know, bill. i don't know. but they are afraid. and no one could answer what they're afraid of. they're afraid of their own shadow right now bill. >> bill: why should they be afraid? they own the world! they have all -- >> caller: they actually have more in common with the minorities than they do with the

millionaires and billionaires on fox tv. i will never understand it either. >> bill: amen. you're right. they have a lot more in common with the people who are hurting today because they're among them. there are so very few among the .001%. >> caller: i a gree. bill, it is a mystery. i think it is racism. >> bill: a lot of it is. i don't think it's all -- i really don't think it's all racism. but it's just inexplicable to me. horace is down in dallas, texas. what do you say? >> caller: good morning to you. >> bill: thank you. >> caller: back in 2008, what was the percentage age group of young white males and older white males that voted for president obama? >> bill: whatever the numbers were, he lost to john mccain by 16% among white males right. but this time -- this year it's

worse. it is 26% so far this year. >> caller: because of the sean hannitys and the mark levines and the rush limbaughs and the john gibsons the ideology that they play across television and radio airwaves, a lot of white males tend to follow that. >> bill: they're the biggest listeners of right wing talk radio. but you know, when they hear this stuff why do they believe it? that's what i don't get. why? >> caller: i have no idea mr. press other than lack of education i would guess. >> bill: i would like to point it up to that. horace by the way, the name is bill. no one calls me mr. press except my wife, carol. >> you sound like a white male! >> bill: i sound like a white male on that note. thanks horace, for the call. we're trying to figure this out.

seriously, this is a serious problem. i gotta tell you. i apologize again for my race and for my gender. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) what is said here could decide the election. current tv presents coverage of the presidential debate. with unrivaled analysis and commentary. >> you're going to hear that (vo) the only network with real-time reaction straight from the campaigns and from viewers like you. >>now that's politically direct. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands?

are they contagious? i don't think so. [ male announcer ] contract the rainbow! taste the rainbow!

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] on your radio and on current tv, >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 33 minutes after the hour. the "full court press" on a friday september 28. coming to you live from our nation's capital and brought to you today by the international association of ironworkers. the great men and women of the ironworkers union under president walter weiss, the sky is the limit for them. you can find out more about

their good work at www.ironworkers.org. i think of them every time i see the great new building at the world trade center in new york city. folks, also following this campaign you hear and see all of the ugly attacks against president obama. you want to know who's behind them? here it is. "the obama hate machine." i spell it all out about the koch brothers, the paperback edition of my latest book out now in the book stores and if you want a signed copy, go to our web site at billpressshow.com and tell us how you want it inscribed to yourself or a friend or colleague and we'll get it out to you right away. book and mailing and shipping and all of that for just $16.99. we're trying to figure out what's wrong with white males. if you look across the board today, women obama up double digits. latinos up way way way

multiple double digits. among african-americans he's up among seniors young people. mitt romney leads barack obama only among white males. what the hell's wrong with us. terry is in kalispell montana. hi terry. >> caller: how are you bill? thanks for taking my call. bill, i spent 20 years in the army. i'm a retired army first sergeant. my last assignment was at fort ord. i'm familiar with the area around there seaside and the like. i've had a lot of black people work for me. a lot of white people work for me. what it is tribalism. these people up here in this area and this is quite an affluent area, i don't know if you've ever been up here. >> bill: i sadly say i haven't but i look forward to getting up there. >> caller: you ought to get up here because it is a beautiful place. >> bill: your senator max baucus is a friend of mine.

he lives near me on capitol hill. he keeps inviting me up. i'm coming up one of these days. >> caller: you should do it. i'm not a fan of max baucus but i am a fan of jon tester. >> bill: i love them both. >> caller: i don't dislike him. i just think he sold us out because -- >> bill: let's get back on topic here, terry. >> caller: the white males, it is just tribalism. the people up here, they believe -- in their heart they believe that black people are not human. that's how they think -- that's how they really believe. they're not human. and everywhere they've -- they look in the last 50, 60 years they can remember when a basketball team was mostly white and the point guard was white and then the black people -- and now it's hard to get a white man to get on a professional

basketball team. >> bill: because we know white men can't jump. terry, you know what? i find it hard -- >> caller: they're afraid. >> bill: hey terry i really appreciate the call. that sounds worse than tribalism to me. that sounds like flat-out racism to me. i just can't believe there are people today in this country who still hold those beliefs about people of color. i certainly hope that's not true. but terry, you live up there. i don't know. mark calls from el paso texas. is it tribalism mark? >> caller: i don't know about any of that. all i know is a couple of things. i don't know how many people live in poverty right now, prob probably about 48 million people give or take. the first one dropped the ball. as a white guy i'm still voting for the president. i would rather have somebody who cares about helping us out. everybody says the middle class.

what about the poor people who work for minimum wage like we do down here in south texas. he could do something for the -- with the minimum wage but he didn't do anything. >> bill: i wish he had done something with the minimum wage, too. i think it is pretty clear that barack obama cares more about what's happening to the middle class and to the working poor today than mitt romney does. >> caller: oh, absolutely. because i've been to massachusetts underneath romney and that was a nightmare. i've been saying for the longest time how come nobody ever brings up his governorship, what he did in mass. >> bill: but what you said about the working poor is so true mark. i don't know exact numbers but huge -- they're not all people of color i guess is what i'm saying. there is a huge percentage of white working poor, right? and so why are those white men gravitating toward romney rather than obama? >> because they're stupid, brother!

>> bill: all right mark. that's as good an answer as any. one more on this. good news about job numbers next. kathleen from chicago. >> caller: how you doing? >> bill: i'm good, thank you. >> caller: you can tell mark is not that president obama didn't do it. tell him to look at the congress because every time he tried to get something passed, including jobs for everybody so they can become unpoor, the republicans said no! that's the blame where it is. >> bill: the votes are not there. >> caller: it is that congress. that's why we got to get rid of that congress. but getting back to this white vote, that's a myth. if you look at this president's rallies, if you look at him when he won the election, you can't hardly find blacks in there. you got white men, white women. you got a rainbow of people. you got some white guys in this president's -- >> bill: i hear ya, kathleen. look, i'm one of them but if you just look at the numbers today

and the polls, every group every group today says they support obama except when you get to white males. and they support romney over obama and why is it? >> caller: by him making that 47% comment not even -- he's losing white support among white men. all of that is going to change. god don't -- i know you're waiting on somebody else, i'm going to get off. any time a president get in office, this is something that's done in everybody's face, it was not hid. make this man a one-time president. the whole time this man has been president he has yet to be able to govern like a regular president. they won't even call him president obama. they call him obama. god don't like ugly. you see these numbers changing, all of this money, all of this trying to steal people's votes not letting them go vote, all of that stuff is coming home to roost. this man will be president and this time he will be president.

>> bill: kathleen, you make my day. you make my day! >> god don't like ugly! i love that! >> bill: she's right. god don't like ugly. god don't like the "the obama hate machine." >> did god just endorse your book? that's pretty good. >> bill: before we break here, i still don't get it by the way. i'm embarrassed to say -- in fact, i'm not going to tell people anymore i'm a white male. i'm going to deny it. think i can get away with it? >> maybe. the whole tv thing will be tough to get past. >> bill: give me my hoody back. on the jobs front, here's something i love. just squirrel this away, hold on to this because you're going to need this. the latest from the romney camp is when we get in that debate next week, we're going to stop being mr. nice guy. this is what they're telling

reporters. we're going to start exposing the lies that president obama tells all the time. well you know what? i just think that's so funny because you know, what we really need to expose are the lies coming from the other side, the lies that the romney campaign tells all the time, especially when they say that president obama has been bad on job creation. so i just want to give you some new numbers out today. these came out yesterday. the year after president obama was sworn -- the year he was sworn in, 2009, because of the bush -- the economic crisis this country lost 4.3 million jobs. these are just raw numbers folks. since 2010, this country has gained between 4.4 and 4.6 million jobs. so just on flat-out numbers

obama has brought back all the jobs lost under george w. bush and then added some to the top. all right. number one. number two these numbers show that under president obama, we had a faster rate of job creation than under george bush i first term or george bush ii, the second term. number three, the numbers also show reported in "the new york times" as well that under democratic presidents, we have created more jobs in this country than under any republican president. that's true under john f. kennedy, under lyndon johnson under jimmy carter, under bill clinton, and under barack obama. but the main thing is on pure, flat numbers don't lie. obama has created more jobs than -- not only more jobs than george w. bush. he's brought back all of the

jobs lost under george w. bush. so when mitt romney and paul ryan say obama's done nothing about job creation, they are lyin' through their teeth. it is a great big fat lie! and they know it! >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy.

sir... excuse me, excuse me... can i get you to sign off on the johnson case... ♪ we built this city! ♪ don't let food hang around. ♪ on rock & roll! ♪ [ orbit trumpet plays ] clean it up with orbit! [ ding! ] fabulous! for a good clean feeling... eat. drink. chew orbit.

it's go time. it's go time. it's go time. go time. you know what time it is. go time. it's go time. it's go time. what time is it rob? here comes the young turks go time! it's go time. oh is it? then it's go. go. go. go. go. go.

go. go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time! only on current tv. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. you know, one the most important issues in this campaign hasn't gotten as much attention as it should is the issue of voter

suppression. attempts to suppress the vote across the board in many states today. we're going to get into that at the top of the next hour here on the "full court press." particularly significant today when early voting has already started in iowa. and of course, with early voting already started how did that change the nature of political campaigns and is what happens in october as important as it used to be? she's been out on the campaign trail with paul ryan lately looking at things up close. joins us this morning on our news line, felicia who covers -- she's a national political reporter i should just say for "the washington post." felicia, good to have you with us again this morning. >> great to be with you, bill. i'm great, thanks. >> bill: paul ryan spent the last couple of days with mitt romney in ohio. how's that ticket working when they're out on the road? >> you know, it's been a little

bit baffling, the decisions that they've made when it comes to whether or not they campaign together. as you said, they were together for one event this week in ohio. that was the first time the two of them have joined forces since just after the republican convention three weeks ago. so you see that they definitely do bring a lot more crowds when they join forces together but they haven't really capitalized on that as much. now the past few days, we've seen paul ryan campaigning. he has been holding fund-raisers in a lot of states that are not swing states, places like tennessee, he will be in connecticut and new york city to raise money. that's something he might have been able to do at this point in the campaign several cycles ago but with early voting now 40% of the vote, it seems like it is a bit late in the game. >> bill: i've read some accounts that the romney campaign is a little worried -- some republicans are grumbling

that they're not using ryan effectively enough. and others i've seen pointing out that when they are together, ryan -- he's a better campaigner and a better speaker than mitt romney. maybe that's why they don't want him overshadowing the candidate. >> that's definitely the danger that they face. i think that's why you see ryan, for all of the grumbling from his conservative backers that the campaign isn't unison enough, it is a decision on his part not to try to overshadow romney on the trial. at the ryan events i've been to, the crowds are very excited about him. it definitely exceeds that of romney. something they have to consider. >> bill: now it has been a rocky road since tampa. maybe a little before but certainly since tampa for the romney campaign. the latest, of course, the polls this week that showed across the board, the president ahead of mitt romney in every one of the

key states, 60% of the american people in one poll i saw showed that they expect obama -- they may not be supporting him but they expect him to win. are you picking up any gloom and doom from the romney people? >> you know, it's real interesting at least on the ryan side of things, there hasn't been any real perceptible change in the way they're approaching everything. i've heard from reporters that they've definitely sensed the shift in the whole demeanor of the campaign. they were so confident before and now there's definitely a lot more gloom and doom on the bus and among aides. there is a dense they're running behind -- there is a sense they're running behind. looking at ohio, it is a state that's long been considered a swing state. romney has been ahead in only two of 20 polls conducted there since the nomination. i think that is starting to come into focus for them. they're in a little bit of a tough spot here because they don't have that much time to

turn things around, especially with the debates coming up so quickly. >> bill: how much time is ryan spending on debate prep? >> he's had three sessions so far. the counterpart they've chosen to play biden is the former solicitor general ted olsen. he's vastly qualified and experienced guy. i think he will give him plenty of good preparation. the vice president has only had one debate prep session so far. everyone engages in this expectation setting and both sides say that the rival is way more qualified than they are. when you get down to it, ryan spent more time happen joe biden has on actually sitting down and preparing. >> bill: very interesting debate last year. the last time around. same thing with biden and sarah palin. you know. it was tricky for joe biden. it will be tricky for him this

time too because he's up against a young popular guy paul ryan. but my take about these debates they both come in so prepared that i think they're both going to do well, you know. the debate is unlikely to change the course of the campaign. one final question on this early voting where i started. it does change the nature of campaigns. it used to be that you know, you were afraid about the october surprise right? or you were afraid -- the last two weeks of the campaign where most people make up their mind. that's not so much anymore. so they have to get their message out like before october. >> it is incredible. look at this, the latest ad that the obama campaign is running. their two-minute closing ad back in 2008, you probably wouldn't have seen that until the middle or end of october. and here we are 40 days out and they're already making that closing argument. it is definitely -- it is a

change and you can see it in the stump speeches, too of the candidates on the trial. when it comes to biden and ryan facing off they both are definitely going to be well prepared. one thing that i think for -- has not been recorded widely enough or to ryan's credit is he's very good at sticking to the script and no matter what the question is, turning it back to his talking point. that's one advantage of his facing biden is biden maybe has not been known to be that kind of disciplined campaigner. >> bill: that kind of disciplined of you don't think of when you think of joe biden. felicia joins us this morning. thanks. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope.

>>only on current tv.

>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any show." >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: mary rogers remind us the polls sound good but it won't matter if we don't vote. all of us. kate bishop wants us to know that in red state kansas, good news, lots of new industry, new restaurants, new businesses, housing, selling at record numbers, the mall and big stores have all packed parking lots. obama economics is working. eric miller from denver, colorado, says i used to be a huge michael savage type right-winger. but he put our show on in the morning on the way to work probably six to eight months ago to listen to the opposition and now he has turned around! he is no longer a savage

conservative. he's a bill press liberal. welcome, eric! see the light. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning. what do you say? it is friday. september 28. good to see you today. thank you for joining us here on the "full court press." on current tv. coming to you live from our nation's capital and bringing you up to date on the big stories of the day. stuff you're going to want to talk about by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press.

the latest numbers, here's one of the things we'll talk about. the latest numbers from the u.s. department of labor show that president obama has brought back every one of the 4.3 million jobs lost under george w. bush and then added more jobs on top of it. so when mitt romney says that barack obama hasn't created any jobs he's dead wrong! he's lying through his teeth! we'll tell you more about that. and a whole lot more here on today's "full court press." first, the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. good morning. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. mitt romney is trying to set his debate expectations really low before he takes on the president next week. a new memo out from romney's senior advisor beth meyers says obama is a gifted speaker and has a significant advantage since this will be his eighth one on one presidential debate. it will only be romney's first. the memo is actually quite

praising of the president calling him one of the most talented political communicators in modern history. meyer says they're fully expecting a 90-minute attack aimed at tearing romney down. mr. obama's traveling press secretary is joking about the whole attempt to lower expectations saying well, he could just fall right off the stage. the president is up in basically all of the most recent polls. gallup has him at 50 to 44%. reuters has him up by 7 and even fox news has him up by 5. even some top romney officials are admitting he's a lousy candidate! according to politico this morning, republicans even some of those working for romney say the real problem is not the polls or the gaffes or the leaked 47% remark, it's just mitt romney. they say he's a great businessman but when it comes to leading a political campaign, he is just, plain unnatural. and planned parenthood is stepping up its attacks against

the romney campaign. this week, voters in virginia are getting fliers in the mail warning romney would turn back the clock for women. it also highlights his plan to eliminate federal funding for planned parenthood. we're back with more. stay with us. (vo) what is said here could decide the election. current tv presents coverage of the presidential debate. with unrivaled analysis and commentary. >> you're going to hear that used as a major talking point. (vo) the only network with real-time reaction straight from the campaigns and from viewers like you. >>now that's politically direct.

from silver screens... to flat screens... twizzlerize your entertainment everyday with twizzlers the twist you can't resist.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: okay. they are already voting in iowa. get in line! vote early vote often. good morning everybody. it is friday, friday september 28th. so good to see you today with 39 days left in this presidential

election, first presidential debate next wednesday. early voting in iowa. man, we are -- on a roll here. on a roll with the "full court press" this friday morning. lots to talk about. give us a holler at "made in hollywood." we'll -- give us a holler at 1-866-55-press. we'll put your voice on national radio and television. live from your nation's capital. on your local talk radio station and on current tv, good to have you with us. don't forget the chat room. if you are watching or listening, go to current.com and just check in the chat room. join the chat room and your fellow "full court pressers" from across the land will welcome you and challenge you. talk about the issues of the day. while we're talking -- while we're talking about them on the air. whole team here. peter ogborn and dan henning and cyprian bowlding and me, bill

press. >> friday. >> bill: here we are together again. so i'm heading off after the show today to my nephew thomas' wedding up in peters boro, new hampshire. >> you're going to talk him out of it, huh? >> bill: one more chance. yeah right. >> fun. >> bill: i understand up in new england there they've got some good weed up in new england. >> is that right? >> bill: that's what i heard. i heard that from my friend barney frank. barney actually -- you may have heard was on cnn with erin burnett the other day talking about how he favors the legalization of marijuana. and then so erin figures she's got to ask him. are you a pothead? >> do you smoke regularly pot? >> no, i don't. i smoke a cigar or two a day. i did have a brownie once. made me sleepy. [ laughter ]

>> good for him. >> made him sleepy. >> i'll bet he would be a lot of fun to hang out with stoned because he has that sort of personality. >> bill: as i said earlier i just can't believe that's barney's only encounter with the good weed. >> i don't believe that for a second. >> next time he's in studio, we might have to check his pockets. >> bill: we might have to offer him some. toke up right here in the studio. >> bill: d.e.a.? >> there are a couple of different organizations that would probably frown on you getting high on the radio and tv. >> bill: swoop in? >> i don't think that would go over well. >> bill: it would make good television. i confess i have been a pothead in my life. not today. >> what time is it? >> bill: i could easily be tempted. >> senator sherrod brown from ohio up 10 points in the polls. going to join us here a little

bit later in the program. bob cusack from the hill, managing editor of "the hill" newspaper is going to be here in studio with us as a "friend of bill." we'll talk to teddy kennedy jr. who is out on the campaign trail with barack obama. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this friday, "dancing with the stars" is rigged. that's what u.s. soccer star hope solo is charging. it says the star goalie who danced on the abc program's 11th season with professional dancer max alleges that her partner got hold of a secret memo which showed that producers were calling the shots as to who would be eliminated, not the audience. solo says the memo specifically said she would be kicked off with four weeks left in the competition. the producers were hoping that would create some drama and spark better ratings. >> bill: next thing you're going to tell me that "american idol" is rigged, too. no. this is too much. >> abc now considering legal action against her.

>> oh, stop it! the beachboys 50th anniversary reunion tour ended on a rough note in the u.k. this week. the band is splitting up and announced that fact in a public statement except three of the five members did not know they were breaking up until they read that statement. mike love announced that brian wilson, al jardine and david marks have been dropped from the group while love and bruce johnson will tour alone. wilson guardian and marks were totally blind-sided. >> wait. hang on. the name of the band is just two beachboys? >> no, i'm saying just two instead of the five. >> are they touring as the beachboys? >> yes they're going to still perform the songs. >> they'll get in trouble. >> bill: the next generation is the beachboy. >> mike love owns the rights to the band's name and the songs. more so, he has more percentage of the ownership than the other

band members. so their final concert this weekend in london as the five so who knows. >> bill: that's enough about the beachboys. >> want me to leave now? >> bill: well, no, get the next story out. >> golf's ryder cup starts outside chicago today as the biannual competition between the u.s. and europe, davis love iii captaining for team u.s.a. including tiger woods jim furyk, phil mickelson, zach johnson, bubba watson and others. in europe, led by he's say maria. sergio garcia, rory mcilroy and rand mcdowell. >> bill: international tournament? >> three days of intense golf competition. >> bill: thank you very much. with early voting starting in ohio, it brings back topic that i think is one of the most troubling ones this year and hasn't gotten half the attention that it deserves and that is the

issue of voter suppression. it has been happening in many states across the land in various forms. i think our good friends at think progress have kept on top of this and reported on it better than anybody else. joining us on our news line this morning from the center for american progress, senior constitutional policy analyst ian mill maaser. -- ian millhiser. thank you for being with us. >> good to be back. >> bill: i should say welcome back too. how many states is it where we've seen various efforts -- like 20, 23 or so? >> to a certain extent it depends on how you count because there is a bit of good news here. in a lot of states like in wisconsin and probably in pennsylvania you're having voter i.d. laws which is probably one of the most common form of voter suppression put in place. then the courts are blocking it. in south carolina, in texas doj has been blocking a lot of the efforts and so there is a sort

of like two steps backwards one step forward process going on here. where a lot of states are trying to make voting laws worse but we're seeing a pushback from the courts and the department of justice. >> bill: okay. but it has been -- over 20 where there have been attempts, right? >> that's right. they're very calm and they take very different forms. >> bill: i was going to get to that. let's talk about some of the forms. what is the most common form? voter i.d.? >> probably the most common is voter i.d. this is a kind of bait and switch. the way that voter i.d. works is it is sort of intuitive to people that you should show i.d. to prove you are who you are at the polls. people are worried about voter fraud. a lot of the time, this is popular. the problem is that voter fraud doesn't really exist. you're actually more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit voter fraud. but what does happen is that there's a lot of people,

minorities students, low income voters are more likely to be in these groups that tend to not have i.d. and so what they actually do, they don't prevent any real voter fraud. they do prevent a lot of people from voting and these groups that are prevented from voting tend to be more liberal than the country as a whole. >> bill: well if they don't have -- first of all i'm one of those who find it hard to believe that there are some people who don't have voter i.d. because i end up showing my i.d. so many times to go in an office building like i did yesterday. stupid but i had to show voter i.d. -- not voter but i had to show my i.d. if there are people who don't have -- this is a dumb question. if there are people who don't have i.d., are they likely to be voters? >> many of them, yes. and the estimates vary on how many people would be

disenfranchised by these walls? as low as 2% of the electorate. i've seen them as high as 9% of the electorate. the groups that you're looking at here, you're looking at a lot of urban voters in areas where there's good public transit so people don't necessarily need a car so they don't have an i.d. you're looking at students who might not have a license because they don't own a car and they don't need one while they're in college. and you're looking at a lot of poorer voters who just by virtue of the fact that they aren't very wealthy can't afford a car so they haven't gone out to get an i.d. most people do have some form of i.d. but there are substantial groups of voters who do not and they're the ones that are really targeted by this. >> bill: i know pennsylvania. this was an issue in pennsylvania. it was challenged in the courts in pennsylvania. where does it stand? >> i think that there's a good chance it's going to be struck

down. there was a trial judge who initially upheld the law and he was recently smacked pretty hard by the pennsylvania supreme court. the good news there so what the pennsylvania supreme court said was they said look, this law says everyone's supposed to have an easy time getting an i.d. there's been all of the stories of people having a tough time getting an i.d. so the law's not living up to its own promise. go fix it. and it's likely that now that it's back in the trial judge's hand, he's going to strike it down for this election. >> bill: for this election. i know it has been proposed -- in the ballot actually in minnesota, correct? >> that's right. and the polls that are really interesting, you know, i think they reflect the challenges for both sides in that initially a year ago the polls showed 80% support for these laws. it is intuitive. >> bill: i know. >> now it's down to 52%.

and what that shows me, 52% is still a majority but the fact that it's lost almost 30 points of support shows me that as people come to understand what these laws actually do, they can -- they can get over their initial false impression about whether or not they're a good idea. >> bill: we're talking with ian millhiser who is the senior constitutional policy analyst at the center for american progress. it is american progress.org. where you can find out more about what's happening in each state and what the various forms are. this headline caught my attention this week which is why we wanted to get you on before the end of the week. voting laws may deter 10 million hispanics. it is a civil rights group the advancement project that came out talking about the potential impact of all of the various efforts in particularly states where there is a big latino

population. is that related to this voter i.d. or you know, what other forms, attempts of voter suppression. >> it is related to voter i.d. but we're seeing a lot of other techniques. so in florida, they made it very, very hard to do voter registration drives, the paperwork requirements were very ominous and it was a crime if you didn't comply with them. most organizations including the league of women voters decide they didn't want to play. that law was struck down by a federal court but it did a lot of damage while it was in effect. you're seeing attempts to take away people's ability to vote early so we've got -- took early voting starting in iowa in places like ohio and florida. you're seeing laws passed to reduce the number of states where early voting can happen. that does have an impact, like i said, minority voters are more

likely to not have i.d. as it turns out, a lot of racial minority groups are more likely to take advantage of early voting. and so you know, minority voters tend to be to the west of the electorate as the whole so when you discourage them from voting, what you do is you shift the voter pool to the right. >> bill: the early voting i just don't understand. why that would be seen as something that would favor one side or the other. i just see early voting as you know, making it more convenient for people and making sure that more people have an opportunity to vote and getting more people out to the polls. right? >> one would think. this has more to do with latino voters than african-american voters. there is a long history sometimes through churches, of

voter drives that target black voters and which are focused on early voting. and i think what happened in places like ohio where the governor doesn't necessarily want very many african-american voters to turn out because of how they tend to vote is they decide to reduce the amount of early voting because they know this phenomenon frequently occurs. >> bill: any way they can. this could have a real impact in this election. as ian has told us here. ian, thanks for staying on top of this and thanks for your time this morning. really appreciate your good work there at the center for american progress. ian mill highser is the senior constitutional policy analyst. the idea that they would make it more difficult for people to vote as ian pointed out, it is only one thing behind it, every one of them no matter whether it is voter i.d. or shortening the days for early voting.

they're afraid that the people are going to take advantage of those opportunities or more likely to vote for president obama. this is republicans -- look, i'll say it. they're trying to steal this election. in over 20 states. and we've got to be aware of that and fight it like hell. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

sir... excuse me, excuse me... can i get you to sign off on the johnson case... ♪ we built this city! ♪ don't let food hang around. ♪ on rock & roll! ♪ [ orbit trumpet plays ] clean it up with orbit! [ ding! ] fabulous! for a good clean feeling... eat. drink. chew orbit.

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption.

>>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. friday. september 28. and you know, every friday we

salute somebody who gets things done. today, we salute the union refs of the nfl who are back on the job and they prove that they and only they know how to get things done. not those scab replacement refs. so salute to the union refs today brought to you by granger with over 900,000 products to help you get your job done. call granger click on granger.com or stop by one of their branches. granger for the ones who get things done. and wouldn't you know it? can you believe it? here we go again. did you hear the announcement yesterday? he was murdered. he disappeared. and they never found his body. teamster president james hoffa. father of the current teamster president jim hoffa. and there have been four different attempts to find his body. there was first a rumor he had been kidnapped taken up in an

airplane and pushed out over the great lakes. of course, some people still believe he's buried in the end zone of the giants stadium in new jersey. back in 2004, they tore up a detroit home because somebody had tipped them off that the floorboards -- he might have been buried under the floorboards of the home. in 2006, remember they tore down a horse barn in michigan on a tip that he was buried there. now, the latest tip is that he's buried in the driveway of a home in roseville michigan. and allegedly the owner of the -- the previous owner of the home had some ties to the mafia so today in roseville michigan, they're actually going to dig up this driveway thinking that maybe the body of james hoffa is located underneath the driveway. why don't they just give it up? right? and who's paying for all of this? tore down a horse barn and another house and now they're

tearing up a driveway? besides, i kind of like the mystery of it, you know. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) what is said here could decide the election. current tv presents coverage of the presidential debate. with unrivaled analysis and commentary. >> you're going to hear that used as a major talking point. (vo) the only network with real-time reaction straight from the campaigns and from viewers like you. >>now that's politically direct.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: how about it. 33 minutes after the hour now on this friday. friday september 28. it is the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital. and brought to you today by the international brotherhood of teamsters, the good men and women of the teamsters union under president jim hoffa. building a better america. find out more about their work at their web site

www.teamster.org. well, he comes from one of the greatest families and bears proudly one of the greatest names in american political history. an investment banker himself cofounder and president of the marwood group we welcome to the program this morning ted kennedy jr. hi ted, good morning. good to have you with us. >> good morning, bill. how are you? >> bill: i'm great. to start off, i was in charlotte and one of the high moments of that convention in charlotte was the tribute to your dad whom i got to know pretty well here in washington. it must have been -- you did a great job. but it must have been tough for you, the first convention without your dad and your life, of course, right? >> well, you know, my father loved going to the democratic conventions every four years. >> bill: oh, yes. >> he loved reconvening with all of his friends that he made in almost 50 years of politics.

but more important he really liked to remind people about why we were democrats and he loved people. he loved his job. and he always stood up for the underdog. and so every four years, it was hard to be there without him and to hear his voice and to see his image but you know, so many people came up to me and remember him fondly and all of the battles that he waged fighting for working families. so it made me very proud bill. so thank you for those kind words. >> bill: well, i must say i have very many fond memories of time spent with your dad and i was democratic state chair of california in a previous life -- >> yes, i remember. >> bill: i'll never forget one time he showed up at one of our conventions and there was a mariachi band on stage and he came up and had them strike up a

tune and he sang in spanish with this mariachi band. i was blown away. i'm sure you've seen him do that. he was so much fun. he just loved it. he belted it out too. >> he loved his job. he loved people. and that's really what kept him going year after year. you know, politics is not an easy profession as you know. but what kept my father going is knowing that he could help individual people and to him you know, all politics was personal. and you know, that is why he fought so hard for healthcare for all. because of his personal experience with his sister rosemary with me as a cancer survivor with all of the issues that we faced in our family. you know, led him to form his political philosophy about families and to him, it was personal. just like it is for president obama. you know, when president obama talks about having -- you know,

student loans hanging over -- you know, every american family's head, he knows what they're talking about. >> bill: sure, he's been there. >> he's been there. and when he talks and he and michelle talked about her father and his m. s. and wondering how their family was going to pay for the medication and treatments and worried about what might happen if michelle's father ever lost his job these are the normal concerns of every single american. and bill, i'm calling you i think you probably know this, i'm out in columbus, ohio today. >> bill: yes. >> the president asked me to represent him in the obama/biden campaign at an historic forum. the forum is the national forum on disability issues. and as you may know, i've been a long-standing advocate. >> bill: absolutely. >> healthcare attorney long-standing advocate for people with disabilities. this is historic because this is

not about advancing the needs of some now interest group. there's millions and millions of people with disabilities and their caregivers who need to go register to vote and make sure that they learn the stark difference between these two candidates. on issues of primary importance to people with disabilities. >> bill: we know what the ryan budget endorsed by mitt romney would do to people who need that kind of help. either through obama care or medicaid or both. >> well, that's just it. you know, the romney/ryan budget would cut medicaid by a third. well, you know, we know that these programs have already reached crisis proportions and the baby boom of retirement is just beginning. you know, 70% of all seniors will need long-term care services at some point in their lives. and that is just -- that's just

it. really we have a fundamental question here about whether these state budgets and whether the federal budgets are going to be balanced on the back of the most vulnerable people. i think the choice between the republican and the democratic party are very clear. democrats obviously feel that if cuts are to be made that they need to be fair. and need to be born in an equitable way across all of society and not just simply balanced on the backs of the poor and the most vulnerable. >> bill: ted again we're talking with ted kennedy jr. you can -- he is here today as a spokesperson for the obama campaign and encourage you to find out more about the issues in the campaign if you're not already up to speed on them at barack obama.com. i think one of the turning points for barack obama in 2008 was when your dad and your cousin caroline, endorsed barack obama at american

university here in washington d.c. surprised a lot of people because your dad had been so close to bill clinton and to hillary clinton. but he saw something. he saw a promise i think in barack obama didn't he, that you see this year as well. with so much at stake. >> well, let me just say this. the kennedy family holds the clinton family both hillary clinton and president clinton with the utmost respect and admiration. the friendship between our two families goes back many, many years. but what my father saw four years ago was a unique, historic opportunity. he saw that there is -- there are very rare moments in time, unique moments that can be a transformative time in american politics. and he saw this young senator somebody who he served with in the senate, first

african-american to have a real clear shot at winning the presidency. he saw how the president was able to mobilize the youth and get people talking and interested in politics. people who had never been interested in politics before, president obama was able to connect with those people. so you're right. it was very rare. it was a difficult decision for him to make to come out and endorse president obama but he did. and if he were alive today, he would be leading the charge to make sure that americans re-elected this guy who has set this country back on course. who made healthcare which was my father's signature issue of course bill, you know that. made this issue -- put many of president obama's advisers said it is too complicated. it's too political. don't do it. president obama said i'm not going to miss the chance to try

to solve this healthcare problem for the uninsured once and for all. and that's exactly what he did. that's the kind of guts that this president has. and that is why all of us need to go out and vote for him and vote early. in many states and many of your listening areas the polls are -- people can already go out and register and vote. >> bill: right. >> so why wait? >> bill: exactly. i mean they started in iowa and it has really changed the face of american politics, the fact that people can vote so early. important to get the votes to get those votes in. ted, i have to ask you this. i've been very important of fortunate, my days in politics in california. and also at cnn with crossfire on msnbc. gotten to know very well your cousin joe your brother patrick. your cousin kathleen. other kennedy family members who have followed your uncle and

your father in politics. what about ted kennedy jr.? >> well, first of all i can't believe you can keep my entire family straight. i give you credit, bill because there are a lot of us. >> bill: i didn't mention half of them. you've gotta take a look once in a while at the political future for yourself. >> i've thought about it bill. i've been focused as a healthcare attorney and as an advocate for people with disabilities. that's why i'm here in columbus, ohio. to talk about the issues that my family's been involved with, that i've personally been involved with since i lost my leg to cancer many, many years ago. i don't know where that path is going to take me but you know, hopefully i'll have the honor one day to go into public life. and i don't know what that opportunity may be but it is something that i've been thinking about more and more and

maybe i have an opportunity to serve. but you know, regardless, i also remember you know, people like my aunt eunice shriver who started the special olympics in the early 1960s and had a profound effect on millions and millions of people with disabilities here in the united states and their families. and around the world. you know what in she was never elected to public office. so i know -- i know that it's possible to make real change happen in a number of capacities. >> bill: when you reach that point and make that decision, let us know -- we'll be here for you and want to go down that road with you as well, ted. thanks so much. thanks for your leadership on this issue. and what you're doing out in columbus today and especially thanks for your time this morning. >> thanks so much, bill. thanks for having me on your show. >> bill: ted kennedy jr. you heard him say he's been thinking more and more about

making a run for political office himself. let's see. new york state. what's coming up? andrew como runs for president. maybe ted kennedy running for governor? >> keep the hope alive. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

are they contagious? i don't think so. [ male announcer ] contract the rainbow! taste the rainbow! then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe driving bonus check? what is that? so weird, right? my agent, tom, said... [ voice of dennis ] ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident-free... ...but i'm a woman. maybe it's a misprint. does it look like a misprint? ok. what i was trying... [ voice of dennis ] silence. ♪ ♪ ask an allstate agent about the safe driving bonus check. are you in good hands?

you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers

>>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show."

now on current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes to go before the top of the hour. senator sherrod brown joining us in the next hour from ohio. we'll give you our favorite clips of the week. first very quickly good note about -- a good word of advice maybe those of you looking to earn some extra money bring some extra income in at the end of each month how about incomeathome.com. america's leading work from home business. doing business in over 80 countries today and off everything you -- offering you an opportunity you can do no matter your age education or experience. you can earn money on your own computer at your own kitchen table 24/7. if you're looking to earn some extra money from home part-time or full time, incomeathome.com is where to go. they're even adding -- they're even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. that somebody could be you.

visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. on a friday. you bet! take time to out to look at our favorite sound bytes of the week. today it is a very unusual clips of the week. it is all dedicated to one person. who said five of the most stupid things all week. it is the mitt romney special today! >> it was a good week for audiowise, it was a good week for mitt romney. a lot of good stuff. >> bill: he kept stepping in it over and over again. like when he was out -- he's out on the campaign trail with paul ryan and the crowd is having a hard time getting into romney, ryan romney. mitt romney himself picks up -- who does he think he is? george bush. like a cheerleader. he tries to get them going. >> number five.

>> paul ryan. that something? let's hear it. romney ryan. romney ryan. romney ryan. there we go. >> bill: there we go. romney ryan. romney ryan. we got one person saying it. >> he's his own hype man. >> bill: when you have to get the crowd going yourself chanting your name -- >> that ain't good. >> bill: it ain't happenin'. uh-huh. mitt romney, he says he's going to cut everybody's taxes but now he says oops, i was just kidding >> romney: so our individual income taxes are ones i want to reform make them simpler. bring the rates down. don't be expecting a huge cut in taxes because of the exemptions but by bringing rates down, we'll be able to let small businesses keep more money to hire more people. >> bill: i'm going to bring rates down but don't expect to pay less. people weren't pleased to hear

that. what is it that mitt romney wants more than anything else back in 2005 as governor of massachusetts? he let the cat out of the bag. >> number three. >> romney: one last thought you guys, when i was a boy when i was a boy, i on a toused think -- i used to think that becoming rich and becoming famous would make me happy. boy, was i right. >> bill: when i was a little rich boy i thought -- becoming even richer, more famous -- how about all of the polls that show barack obama ahead by 10 points in ohio, 9 points in florida. 12 points in pennsylvania, mitt romney says don't mean beans. >> number two. >> romney: i'm very pleased with some polls less so with other polls but frankly at this early stage, polls go up, polls go down. >> bill: polls go up, polls go down. all his go down, down, down. and what's the answer -- what's mitt romney got to answer to

aviation? well, he think you ought to be able to open plane windows. this referring to when his wife was on a plane that started filling up with smoke. >> number one. >> romney: i appreciate the fact that she is on the ground safe and sound and -- [ cheers & applause ] i don't think she knows just how worried some of us were. when you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go exactly. and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in because the windows don't open. i don't know why they don't do that but it is a real problem. >> bill: yeah, it's's real problem if you open the plane window because you will get sucked out at 38,000 feet! that's why you can't open the plane windows. mitt romney, as any 4-year-old -- peter's 4-year-old son could tell you.

we'll be back and tell you what the president's up to today. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. just doubled down saying yeah, that's exactly what we mean. that's what the people want. >> i think it is actually important when you talk -- >>and now to my point. that is a whole bunch of bunk! the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. here we go. senator sherrod brown from ohio up in the next hour. as well as bob cusack from "the hill" newspaper managing editor will be in studio with us as a "friend of bill." president obama in washington today. rare day.

he will get the daily briefing this morning at 9:45 followed by huddling with his senior advisors in the oval office at 10:15. no lunch plans announced here. i don't know. might be going out to the local five guys today. watch out. and then at 4:20 this afternoon the president will be delivering remarks at a campaign event at the capital hilton in washington. goes over to a private residence where he will -- for another campaign event. small dinner, i'm sure at 6:05. then back at 8:25 tonight the president's back at the capital hilton for another campaign event. then back to the white house. no word today on whether or not jay carney will be holding a briefing at the white house. usually he does. we have a briefing when the president is in town. we'll find out and let you know about that. so sherrod brown up 10 points

in ohio. does that mean president obama wins ohio by 10 points? we'll get into that next hour. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. what do you say? it is friday september 28. so good to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. where we bring you up to date on all of the news of the day. the latest since you woke up this morning and then give you a chance to sound off about it. at 1-866-55-press. that is our toll free number.

lots to talk about today. but one thing for sure you can relax, the good, trained union professional refs are back. they took over last night's game between the ravens and the browns up in baltimore. no more lingerie league rejects on the field. good news for everybody. we'll get into that and a whole lot more. first we start out with today's current news update. standing by in los angeles lisa ferguson. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. todd akin is out with his offensive comment of the week. he is taking a jab at his democratic opponent, senator claire mccaskill saying she was much more lady-like in 2006 when she ran against senator jim talent. that's what akin told reporters yesterday during a stop on his common sense bus tour. but it sounds like he might just be a little upset about his debate performance. akin said during the debate last

friday mccaskill came out swinging and he thinks that is because she feels threatened. after akin's legitimate rape remark, he spent time campaigning with phyllis shaffley. an anti-feminist icon and outspokenly against birth control access, equal pay for women, paid maternity leave and lgbt rights. some democrats out of riverside california, say they were tricked into registering republican. 133 voters are claiming that the golden state voter participation project, a republican voter outreach group targeted them outside welfare centers and stores. the scheme, asking them to sign petitions like legalizing marijuana or lowering gas prices they also offer jobs and free cigarettes. the democrats say when they signed, they ended up reregistered for the wrong party. we're also learning florida republicans were using a firm suspected of submitting fake voter registrations.

the g.o.p. has since fired the firm saying they have zero tolerance for matters like this. the group strategic allies consulting supposedly submitted 108 fake voter registrations in palm beach county. we'll be right back. decide the election. current tv presents coverage of the presidential debate. with unrivaled analysis and commentary. >> you're going to hear that used as a major talking point. (vo) the only network with real-time reaction straight from the campaigns and from viewers like you. >>now that's politically direct.

nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. actually... [ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the switching and paperwork for you. well, it probably costs a lot. [ dennis' voice ] allstate can save you up to 30% more when you bundle. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. ♪ ♪ bundle and save with an allstate agent. are you in good hands? jack you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia.

♪ this girl is on fire ♪ [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ]

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 39 days to go and they're already voting in iowa. good morning everybody. happy friday. friday, september 28th. good to see you today here on the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital and our studio on capitol hill. bringing you the news of the day

whatever insights and analysis we can provide from this end and looking forward to hearing your comments at 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. thanks so much for being part of the program this morning as we tackle the news of the day. with the help of bob seuss ac who was managing editor of "the hill" newspaper. good friend of the program back in studio this morning as a "friend of bill" for the whole hour. >> good morning. >> bill: nice to see you. getting up early and coming in with us. joining the team here. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hi, there. >> bill: and cyprian bowlding our videographer. the whole group assembled. by the way i want to point out that my latest column is up on our web site at billpressshow.com. check it out. it is all about the nfl and the big debacle this week. but they got it resolved and my column under the headline scabs can't replace good union workers. yes. got the good union workers back last night.

>> get ready america. it's not off than bill press writes about sports. so you really should go read it. it's great. it is a great piece but you should check it out. >> bill: thank you. but i'm just thinking it may be the only time i've ever written about sports. >> can you imagine in green bay this weekend, the refs will get a standing ovation. >> bill: they got one last night. >> much better game. it wasn't like four hours. >> bill: right. in green bay they'll be happy. open arms indeed. check out the column. bob, good to have you with us today. president obama made a rare appearance last night on "saturday night live." well, actually it wasn't the president. jay farrell who plays him on the special edition of "saturday night live" and so they had president obama who was asking people in the audience how many of you have jobs and tell us about your jobs. here's one woman with an interesting job. >> you, what about you how about you ma'am i saw your

hand go up. what do you do? >> i work at the apple store. >> obama: there you go. one of america's great companies still growing. >> i don't work for the computer store. i sell actual apples. [ laughter ] >> obama: okay. >> i have a shack by the highway. i sell mostly to immigrants and the occasional mule. [ laughter ] >> bill: then he goes to another guy who has an unusual -- by the way he's got obama down. obama in front of a crowd. there you go. there you go. so there's another guy with an unusual job. >> what do you do, sir? >> i chase raccoons out of foreclosed homes. >> that's great because all of those homes had people in them a few years ago. good for you. staying outdoors. probably a lot of perks right?

>> yeah. sometimes i eat them raccoons. [ laughter ] >> bill: oh, man. i don't know whatet this with mitt romney but they had a good number on president obama last night. >> good for them for finally getting a really good obama person. the guy before was not good. that's change we can believe in. >> bill: there you go. bob cusack with us the entire hour. we'll be joined by senator sherrod brown from ohio coming up later. bob and i will get right into the politics of the day. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this friday, the commissioner of the nfl actually apologized to the fans yesterday for the poor performance of those replacement referees during the first three weeks of the season. on a conference call with reporters, roger goodell said the games were painful for everyone but "sometimes you have to go through something like that in the shopper terp for the right agreement for the long-term." he admitted monday's bad call in the packers/seahawks game

probably helped speed those up. >> ya think? >> bill: he comes out looking worse than anybody. >> he said on the same call, he doesn't think any of the players were ever put into harm's way at all. >> right. >> i don't know how he could say that with a straight face. >> bill: the players don't say that. i heard the ref who made the bad call still says he made the right call. >> beer continues to be a theme on the campaign trail. are you drinking? according to your politics? scarborough research out with a new study on the politics of beer for this time around. the top brands and who drinks them. coors light and sam adams drinkers tend to be republican. fitting since the sam adams brewery, not far from mitt romney's headquarters in massachusetts. >> yeah but also because coors is -- right-winger. >> heineken fans are more likely to be democrats than any other beer drinkers across the board and while budweiser skews to the left, bud light mostly nonpartisan. >> i'm not sure what this says

about political reporters but there is a stack of natural light cans by bob cusack's briefcase out in the lobby. [ laughter ] >> that was my brand of choice in college. definitely. >> move over, elvis presley. a new king of the charts. rapper lil' wayne now has the most songs to appear on the billboard hot 100 hits list with the debut of his new song celebration at number 82 this week. >> bill: lil' wayne. >> lil' wayne. he now has 109 songs to make the chart. elvis had 108. that was a record for a single artist. the cast of glee has the overall record of the group with 204 songs. >> bill: let he -- me tell you something elvis will outlive lil' wayne. >> i was alive when i saw the cast of glee and lil' wayne ruling the music charts. >> bill: the grandkids you mean? because you can tell your kids

that. all right. thank you dan. bob, where to start, where to start. let's start with the fact that early voting, i don't know whether any other state -- but ohio definitely is. lined up yesterday in ohio. so and more states are going to be coming on. there have been attempts to limit the time for early voting in some states. part of the voter suppression efforts. but early voting is significant isn't it? and really does change the way campaigns are run. >> yeah. i think it is a good thing. obviously -- >> bill: i do, too. >> there have been a lot of efforts to move it to a saturday. we'll have the election on tuesday. a lot of the states, up to 40% of ballots is now the estimate. that's enormous. that's enormous. obviously the president needs to get people out now. number one because he's winning right now. and he needs to get the turnout or similar turnout that he got in 2008. and that's something that he's been pressing when everyone boos him, he always says don't boo

vote. michelle obama has been pressing everybody to get a friend and early voting, i think is going to help the president. but we'll see. >> bill: i mean -- in my democratic chair days in california, it was not -- voting by mail. it was the same sort of thing. the idea was to get as many people as you could to vote by mail and to get them in early. because you get those votes they're in the bank, right? they're locked in. and you can't go back and say i changed my mind. >> don't have to worry about weather on election day. >> bill: somebody gets sick or their car breaks down or that kind of stuff. get it in the bank. you can count on them. and then were anything to happen right later. oh. damn, you know. i just can't vote for him. it is too late. >> i think that the old school of liking to go in the voting booth and i think with the internet and kids now, i ask our interns, i'm like when is the last time you actually bought a

print newspaper and no hands go up. i don't think -- i think some people like to go to the voting booth but i think the new generation, they mail it in. that's fine. >> bill: now we're at a point where the romney campaign has not had a good couple of weeks okay. but they're saying we're going to get back on track. we're going to regear, we're going to change our message. new message. we're going to tell you who mitt romney really is. early voting might indicate that for at least a percentage of the population, it is too late. >> it is too late. that will be a lot of votes and a lot of votes in battleground states. a lot of republicans are privately very, very nervous. they don't see with the track record of romney, he has been, at times strong. when he went toe to toe with newt gingrich in florida in a debate, that was a very strong performance but he stumbles with the 47%. and republicans just don't think that he can be consistent over this month plus. >> bill: so it leaves up to --

well, the debates. right? now, i want to get your take on this. to point out that this idea that the debate is going to turn things around, that's the same thing they said about his choice of a vice presidential running mate right. that was going to catapult him into the lead. then they said wait until tampa. the republican -- catapult him. now they're saying wait until next wednesday's debate. >> i think it is going to be tough. ryan helped him a little bit in the beginning. conservatives rallied around it. there has been a disappointment there hasn't been a bold choice. this is tough for romney. romney needs to go deep now. he's down. it is fourth quarter. he's down. but then if you start attacking relentlessly, then you look desperate. so the first debate is big. but remember, john kerry won the first debate against bush. >> bill: i find that more often than not with these debates and i've seen so many of them and reported on so many of

them both people come in very well trained. you know, they've been through the issues. i was talking with somebody yesterday who was helping joe biden in the debates. they've got books this thick. it is very, very unlikely they're going to make a major mistake. so i think more often than not both candidates do okay. one might be slightly ahead on one answer or something but basically, they survive. the debate doesn't move the needle that far right? >> yeah. i think that the biggest thing for the president, i'm sure his advisers are telling him don't do the line against hillary clinton, you're likable enough because obama has a huge likable edge. just be likable and on the issues he knows the issues. they both know the issues but don't come across as petulant or anything like that. >> bill: or too defensive. and so if they survive the debate you know, and really -- >> that's what they want to do honestly at this point. >> bill: no major mistake no

major gaffe. >> i think that -- >> bill: the first debate is more important than the other -- >> because everybody's tuning in to the first one. the big boxing match. they've been training in essence for months on the campaign trail. now you can see how they can interact with one another. i think too both romney and obama have shown to have thin skin at times so that's one thing they have to ward off. when romney had the interview with brett bear. you can't look thin-skinned. >> bill: here's something i don't understand. i want to get your take on. we talked about this earlier in the program. if you look at every interest -- every identifiable subgroup if you will today women obama's up 25 points or 15 points or whatever. double digits. african-americans, huge. latinos, huge. seniors, winning among seniors and young people.

among white males obama is behind by 26 points to mitt romney today. i blame you white male bob cusack. >> what is it about -- >> bill: i'm almost prearsed to be a white male. what is it about white males that have all of these groups that they tend to be anti-obama and pro republican? >> i'm pretty sure that mccain won it -- >> bill: mccain won white males by 16. >> now it's 26. i think it's remarkable that the difference between white males and the rest of the demographics. and i think though the romney has started to lose some of the advantage among men. white males maybe not but overall, men. he had a big advantage and now that is roughly even -- romney may have a little bit of an edge. i do find that fascinating. i don't have an answer to it. >> bill: i don't know whether it is -- i don't think it's -- i think for some, it is racism. i don't think it is all racism.

it may be fear of -- i don't know what. ignorance. i don't know. i really cannot put my finger on that. >> one of the things that you've seen both candidates try to do is obviously generalization here but men love sports and both candidates have been talking about sports. obama is a huge sports fan. >> bill: biggest sports fan i think we've ever had in the white house which is saying something because george bush was, too. >> clinton too. obama watches it almost -- espn nightly. >> bill: and by the way he's a beer drinker. he goes out for a beer. he doesn't go out for a glass of fine wine or champagne. he makes his own freakin' beer at the white house. >> romney doesn't drink. the mormon thing. but i think that's striking and it is striking that that, i think, is going to be something -- this nation is very divided. no doubt about it. whoever wins, there is going to have to be some coming together. that's why obama has gone after

romney in ad of the 47%. he's president of the entire united states. but he's going to have to bring the country together to strike some type of deal on the fiscal cliff et cetera -- et cetera. >> bill: my message to the white males here, you better get on board this train because the train is leaving the station with the women and people of color and seniors and everybody else. if you want to get on board you better do it now. i will be back with bob cusack. i want to ask you about an important senate race in missouri when we come back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy.

m01372